BJP to take action against Shatrughan Sinha: Nadda

Trouble seems to be brewing for BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha, as the saffron party leadership on Saturday hinted at possible disciplinary action against him over his statement that if popularity was the yardstick, then Amitabh Bachchan should become the president.

Speaking to mediapersons on the second day of the three-day workshop of the Himachal BJP at Palampur, the party's national general secretary and Rajya Sabha MP Jagat Prakash Nadda said, "The party will take action against Sinha for his public utterances going against the party line."

In a veiled dig at party president Rajnath Singh's oft-repeated statement that Modi was the most popular leader in the country, Sinha, an MP from Patna Sahib constituency, had said that if popularity was the yardstick, then Bachchan should become the president of India.

The actor-turned politician had also said that senior leader LK Advani would be the best choice as the party's prime ministerial candidate, suggesting that Modi's appointment as the campaign committee chief has diverted attention from burning issues of Congress' scams and price rise.

Nadda further said the party would contest the upcoming general elections under the leadership of Modi and the supervision of Rajnath Singh.

"Our election campaign committee and management committees are making all-out efforts to strengthen the party's poll operation and a roadmap is being prepared for the same," Nadda said, adding that the BJP will win all four parliamentary seats in Himachal and it was sure that the Congress would be thrown out of power at the Centre in 2014.

He said that as far as ticket allotments on the four seats in the state was concerned, a decision would be taken at an appropriate time.

On suspended leaders, Nadda said the party was in no mood to take any of the ousted leaders back into the party fold. He denied that there were any chinks in the Himachal unit of the party.